UPDATE: The mobile truck is now on the move. A downtown location has been secured a Revolution Moto (yay!) The truck will roll in today (2/4) at 11:30am, hanging around until about 1:30pm. (518 College Ave., Santa Rosa)
Beta-testing never tasted so good. Especially when the fry machine finally gets sizzling.
Sonic.net staffers got first crack at the much-anticipated Street-Eatz Mobile Kitchen yesterday as the super-sized catering truck rolled up for a super-secret trial lunch-rush.
On the “globally-inspired” menu: Prawn Pasta Florentine, yellow curry, pulled pork sandwiches with Gravenstein apple/chardonnay sauce, fish and chips, chiles rellenos, paella, chicken teriyaki, rosemary fries, beef shwarma and agedashi — a soul-restoring (and tongue-burning) Japanese broth with fried tofu.
Despite a brief derailment when the fryer failed (and the rosemary fries were a temporary no-go), the roaming cantina seems nearly ready for its public launch. Co-owner Jillian Dorman, a Silicon Valley expat, says she’s hoping for a couple more tests, then a full roll-out to various local business parks and (fingers-crossed) downtown Santa Rosa. Online ordering will streamline lunchtime, with meals ready to roll at the appointed time and locale.
Finding non-city-owned lots to host the truck has been a challenge, but Dorman remains optimistic. Fingers crossed that city leaders will step up to pave the way for this vibrant food trend that could be a boon for downtown. I can’t tell you the number of amazing chefs/cooks who can’t afford high rent overheads, but have confessed to me their deep desire to do impromptu carts/stands and frustration with the red tape involved in actually doing it. Here’s a link to Food Carts Portland…just in case we’re feeling progressive.
Dorman’s business partner, La Texanita’s Alma Mendez, is providing taco-truck and serious restaurant know-how while a former Saint Rose kitchen staffer mans the grill. Wanna know more or possibly be another beta-testing company? Check out the website: street-eatz.com for the latest info…
And hey, shout out if you’d like to see something like Portland’s street food enclaves be a part of Sonoma County. It can’t happen unless we demand it.
Last Friday I happened upon the truck in my office parking lot and tried the pulled pork sandwich. It was delicous!The bread was so good, the cole slaw on the sandwich was great and the pork! Tender and tons of it!!
Will try the fish & chips tomorrow.
Thanks but I need more than 20 min. to get there.
Street Eatz will be at the corner of Corporate Center and Mercury again tomorrow (Wednesday) from 12:00-1:30….Getcha grub on! Oh and they have a couple new menu items too
food grade tires? thats liberalism run haywire crazy for you!
We do have agedashi tofu in sonoma county! For the best agedashi tofu in sonoma co. go to Hana in Rohnert Park. It is delicious.
Let’s not overlook the possibilities of something like the whole block of trailers serving food on So. Congress in Austin. The Mighty Cone is an outgrowth of one of the city’s fine restaurants. And Hey Cupcake! is a great dessert after. And who doesn’t love an Airstream!
I just saw Anthony Bordain talk at the wells Fargo center, he had some great views on street food. He was working as chef for 28 years. He had no problem with street venders most have cleaner food then restaurants as they have to have there customers come back they cant get sick from there food or they would be out of business. They have more vested into there living. If you think that food at the Sunday brunch in restaurant is fresh think again. If anyone as ever had fish taco in southern California you know what i am talking about. I take my wife out to dinner in Santa Rosa it cost me 100 dollars. I don’t mind that but if i am at work and need lunch it would be nice to have some choice on the street for a quick meal
This is wrong, especially during these tough times. Existing restaurants have put so much time and money into their restaurants and now to add cheaper competition not on a level playing ground and having to follow the same rules etc. as they have too, not right! DO NOT DO THIS TO OUR EXISTING BUSINESS’!
I lived in Portland and there is a huge range of mobile food operations in every part of town–most of them serving decent, healthy food. And a really diverse selection. Some have left their wheels behind and are permanently plunked down in parking lots.
And they don’t compete with bricks & mortar restaurants, they fill a different need.
It allows for lower overhead and gives the residents a great deal on fast, fun, mostly wholesome food.
(In SF, they’re asking builders to put something up on vacant spaces just so there is some “in-fill” of productive-seeming activity)
Most of the foods mentioned in your article sound great, but there is another side to the food vendor story. In South Santa Rosa and even downtown, many (if not all) of the food cart vendors are selling what amounts to junk food…heavy on the fried, salt, fat, processed food with little to no nutritional value….not to mention below par on cleanliness, freshness, etc. Until recently, the street in front of Sheppard and Roseland Elementary were clogged with mobile “food” vendors, and there were even reports of vendors harassing children, to the point where the city had to create an ordinance restricting mobile food vendors from setting up within 500 feet of a school. While I’m all for food choice, I’m not sure that it should be THAT easy for a person to become a street vendor. More power to the vendors offering a variety of tasty ethnic foods…especially healthy options. But does our society, with childhood obesity rates that have risen EXPONENTIALLY in the last generation, really need such easy access to junk food? I wouldn’t mind seeing more variety of food options downtown, and perhaps that means the city/county easing up on some of the restrictions in those areas…but not so much that it becomes easy for more JUNK food vendors to start up. We need increasingly easy access to HEALTHY food options!
Check out this look at what Hercules, CA is doing:
http://www.ci.hercules.ca.us/documents/Agendas/Planning/2009/11-16-09/Item%20V.a.pdf
They have a lot that is not scheduled to be developed for a few years and are opening it up to a food cart court. Should be very cool. Not quite the same attitude as SR has to carts!
Heh, I heard about that sitch at lunch today and it made my blood boil. It’s time to make some changes that enable fresh, bright, unorthodox ideas to take chances in the county’s food world. I’m raising the flag. Fight the power.
I have the good fortune to live in Roseland, so fabulous street food is just a 2 minute walk away. I do wish we had more of a selection of course. I do like the food of Michoacan but I would love some dosa or falafel too. Unfortunately the city makes for some very difficult terrain in obtaining permits for street food. One recent applicant was told by a city official that the tires on his food cart needed to be made of food-grade rubber and he needed to provide four parking places as well as a handicap bathroom….for a waffle cart. Really? no wonder there aren’t more mobile food vendors in SR.
Portland? Santa Rosa could be a little bit like Portland? I fear it’s only in my dreams.
Two years ago I was in downtown Portland for the first time in years. Within ten minutes I drove by a block -a whole city block- of food carts, stands, trucks. There was every kind of food one could imagine, mostly from specific cultures and countries. I decided then and there that Portland was my favorite city!